The Relationship between Communication Skills of Geography Teachers and Students’ Level of Motivation towards Geography Lesson

Abstract

This study, which aims to determine the relationship between communication skills of geography teachers and students’ level of motivation towards geography lesson, was designed in correlational survey model. The data for the research was gathered from 450 high school students studying in randomly chosen secondary education institution, under the Ministry of National Education, in Siirt city center in the academic year 2012–2013. As data collection tools were used “Scale for Evaluating the Communication Abilities” developed by Karagoz and Kosterelioglu (2008) and “Scale for Motivation towards Learning Geography” developed by Kaya (2013). The data were transferred to SPSS 15, and descriptive statistics, Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient and Multiple Regression Analysis were made. As results of the study, it was found that (i) there is a significant relationship between communication skills of teachers and students’ level of motivation towards geography lesson; (ii) teachers use their communication skills with respect to the Obstacles sub-dimension more, and prefer communication skills for Respect, Expression ability, Values, Motivation and Democratic attitudes sub- dimensions less; (iii) the means for students’ levels of motivation towards Geography lesson in Field of interest, self-confidence, knowledge acquisition and performance subscales are very close and were found to be as moderate.